Chicagoist hasn't been the only one covering the event. Here are some other reviews of Chicago Gourmet. I don't know what festival Phil Vettel attended, but it sounded really fucking good. Mr. "One fork per plate" found no "shortage of richness"; at one point, Stolpman and I had to go to America's Dog to grab a bite. Apparently, Vettel didn't bother to share that same spoil of riches with fellow Stew correspondent Chris Borrelli.......

How weird, after reading a particularly sharp and on-point criticism [via Gapers Block] of The Reader's consistent decline in quality in the recent past we came across earlier today, we now learn that the company that bought the paper in 2007 -- Creative Loafing -- has just filed for bankruptcy. They claim this move will alow them to reduce the cuts to editorial staff the company had planned, but given how the weekly's changed since......

Former UR Chicago editor Ari Bendersky has been named editor of the long-awaited Eater Chicago. Eater and its real estate-focused companion, Curbed, are set to launch October 15. (Disclosure: I was also interviewed as a candidate for the Eater Chicago gig.) [TOC, via Menupages Chicago]......

Who owns Chicago2016.com? Currently, MBA student Stephen Frayne Jr., who bought the domain back in 2004. But now the Chicago Olympic bid folk, whose website is currently Chicago2016.org, and the USOC are suing him, claiming the site belongs to them. "We certainly see Chicago2016.com as the logical default domain for our site, and we believe having someone else control it is misleading for people seeking information about Chicago's bid," said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for......

Word from the Tribune late Tuesday ended any speculation that former Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti might be joining the city's other major newspaper. While talks did in fact take place, they fell apart due to the Sun-Times lawyers threatening to sue the pants off Mariotti and the Trib. Said Mariotti, "[they] threatened me with a lawsuit in 64-point type." Jay the Joke also said of the Trib, "It's not your father's Tribune...I enjoyed dealing......

The Sun-Times published the words "fuckin'," "shit," and "ass" on its website, which is big news for those of us obsessed with media self-censorship. (They've published "ass" before, when Lacy Banks wrote that "if death shows a hint of coming near me, I'll kick his ass, in the name of Jesus.") In recent months, the print version of the Sun-Times wouldn't run the word "asshole", the Trib translated a Chinese curse as "something-something-mama," and the......

Paige Wiser's column today about how Sarah Palin "could look even better" doesn't even make the claim that changing her look could earn her ticket more votes. Don't we all just want to be the prettiest princess at the party? C'mon, girls! "The former beauty queen is unquestionably attractive. Her signature look, however, is proving more divisive than her politics," Wiser writes. I think "unquestionably" is a stretch, though hairdos and shoes do indeed divide......

One or two words in particular. A recent CBS2 article about an Indiana high school's ban on purses and backpacks is basically an exercise in avoiding the words "tampon" or "maxi pad." Let's see.... "Female students are upset about the changes." "Kathryn Griffin has to return to her locker to get things she normally keeps in her bag, including personal hygiene items. 'We have that time of the month, so you know we need our......

The Chicago Tribune launched its high school–focused paper The Mash yesterday, distributing 100,000 copies to Chicago Public School students. The print and online edition are mostly written by high school students, who are paid between $10 and $25 for articles, with guidance and oversight by Trib staff. [CBS 2, Editor and Publisher]......

We'll stop the Jay Mariotti coverage one of these days, but this open letter from Roger Ebert is too damn good to pass up. It's titled "Jay the Rat," and it ends "On your way out, don't let the door bang you on the ass." Our love for Roger Ebert knows no bounds. Full missive after the jump. [Ebert]......

Jay Mariotti may be heading for Boston, according to Phil Rosenthal, who used to work with Mariotti and is not a fan. "One rumor on which Mariotti would not comment had him bound for Boston and an array of multimedia opportunities," Rosenthal writes today. "How he would find flaws in a city with defending champs in basketball and baseball is anyone's guess." Mariotti told the Boston Herald that that's not in the works, saying "I......

Photo by ankylosaur Hey, Steve Dahl wrote his monthly column today! Guess what? He's got a case of the Andy Rooneys: He doesn't get why people have tattoos. "I think you have to be drunk to want a tattoo," he says. Some people call a lower back tattoo on a woman a "tramp stamp." I would never do that, or even insinuate that, but any time I see someone sporting a permanent design on......

And the hits just keep on coming with this Jay Mariotti story. Sun-Times EIC Michael Cook issued a statement today touting the paper's sports coverage as "the best sports section in the city" and boasting of its remaining columnists, yada yada. The statement also included this: The Chicago Sun-Times and suntimes.com will continue to have the scores and the stories before anyone else, anywhere, and the deepest and most comprehensive stats and standings. We......

Editor and Publisher got a sneak peek at what could become the new Chicago Tribune - and it ain't pretty. The news that Red Eye founding editor Jane Hirt would be promoted to managing editor worried a lot of people, and now it appears that the Red-Eye-Ification of the Tribune goes much further than just personnel changes. The design has been completely redone, but the main change would be the name. Since 1847, "Chicago Tribune"......

ChuffPo* blogger Bahar Takhtehchian has concluded that because she doesn't like sports, her fellow female residents of Chicago must not—at least not really—either. "Do Chicago gals genuinely care about the fortunes of this city's sports teams? Are they sitting through hour after hour of endless sports for the love of the game ... or for the love of the men in their lives?" she asks. Well, concludes; that's the closing thought of her story, and......

Fox News took out a full-page ad in today's Tribune—oh, so that's who still advertising in the Trib—ragging on CNN and its restructuring plan that includes reducing its Chicago staff to 9 from 12. [TVNewser]......

WGN news anchor Allison Payne says she wasn't drunk during the broadcast on Thursday: She says her slurred speech was a result of the series of ministrokes she suffered earlier this year. Exhaustion and stress apparently exacerbate the effects of the ministrokes, and Payne says that last week "was extremely stressful." [Trib]......

And the masthead keeps on changing: The Chicago Tribune's new managing editor is Jane Hirt, founding editor of RedEye. [Editor and Publisher]......

Chicago Tribune editor Gerry Kern sent an email to staffers yesterday outlining his big plan for the future, which is to "strengthen our bond with readers by giving them the news, information and irresistible storytelling they desire in their lives. We will enlighten, provoke, surprise and entertain them. We want them to say, 'This is my Tribune and I can’t get along without it.'" His full missive plus his "Vision for reinventing the Chicago Tribune"......

Well, is it?......

WBEZ's experimental user-generated Vocalo station has a Twitter feed. And they want to hear from you! Badly! If you pledged to WBEZ, your money's going to Vocalo. More after the jump.........

The "powerful white Tribune columnist" who apparently shouted at a colleague and challenged him to a fight? Yeah, it was John Kass.......

The Trib's newsroom layoffs disproportionately targeted journalists of color, according to one of the dismissed reporters, Ray Quintanilla. "It's sad because if you look at the list, it's heavily minority. It looks bad," [Quintanilla] told Journal-isms. He said his marching orders came a day after he challenged a powerful white Tribune columnist who for the fifth time had hired a white assistant, asking the columnist if he had considered any people of color. He recalled......

"Bad Driving, Badder Drivers." And even badderer headlines!......

Two weird things from this inane Sun-Times article about new parents trying to prep their pets for the arrival of human spawn. One: "Gone is the old wives' tale of offering a used diaper to an animal to acclimate it to the newest person in the house." That's...an old wives' tale? Two: the term "fur baby" to describe a pet. I love my pets as much as any other lunatic, but "fur baby" is pushing......

In a letter to shareholders yesterday, the Sun-Times Media Group painted a pretty grim picture of the paper's state of affairs. It's no secret that the newspaper industry is in rough shape. Our industry's advertising revenues are being depressed by the significant declines in the industries that are most important to us - housing, real estate, employment, autos and, increasingly, retail. Some of the issues affecting our advertising revenue are economic, while others are secular.......

Those Tyra-Banks-as-Michelle-Obama photos are finally online. They're not very fierce.......

The Sun-Times interviewed hundreds of first-through-eighth graders and found that "half of all fifth- through eighth-graders said their 'greatest fear' was gun- or shooting-related." According to the report, "nearly three-quarters" of fifth-through-eighth graders said they heard gun shots in their neighborhood, and nearly two-thirds of fifth-graders "specifically listed guns or a shooting as their biggest fear." The students surveyed attend schools in Lawndale, West Town and Woodlawn, and the Sun-Times says the survey "offer[s] a......

Weigel Broadcasting, the local company behind The U, MeTV and MeToo, has announced that this fall it'll be partnering with MGM to produce a new, nationwide digital TV channel to be called This TV. When stations go all-digital in February, there will be many broadcasters that won't be able to fill the new subchannels, due to lack of funds and/or programming. This TV aims to fill the gap, available for lease to broadcasters who......

Today's big danger: Texting while walking! Holy moly, is it ever time to be afraid. Particularly of twin bullshit stories, neither of which identify anyone who has actually been injured. To the Sun-Times and the Tribune: Anecdotal evidence from a 30-something woman Trib: "Kelly Scheiner of Streeterville had many errands to run... And so, a silver Nordstrom bag draped over her left forearm, she marched north on Michigan Avenue, crossing Illinois Street at a crisp......